ARC commits $2m to protecting Long Bay backdrop

2 December 2009

The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) is to contribute $2 million toward protecting Long Bay Regional Park from the impact of development.

The Okura Great Park Society recently approached the ARC to contribute towards the purchase of 4.77 hectares of land (known as Area D) situated near Long Bay Regional Park on Auckland’s North Shore.

At today’s meeting of the ARC Parks and Heritage Committee, councillors made a recommendation to Council to make a $2m contribution to the Society’s fund raising efforts.

The ARC’s contribution is conditional on a trust being formed by the Okura Great Park Society and is available to the Society until 30 June 2010. North Shore City Council has also made a conditional contribution of $5 million to the Society.

“We have appreciated working with the Okura Great Park Society over the years and support their latest efforts to protect the rural aspects at the entrance to the regional park,” says Cr Sandra Coney, Chair of the committee.

Cr Coney says the ARC’s desire to protect the ‘backdrop’ behind Long Bay Regional Park has been a priority since the first parkland was purchased (by the Auckland Regional Authority) in 1965 and that it has continued to successfully fight against the impact of development.

“The ARC has been influential in the creation of a 19.6 hectare Heritage Protection Area that abuts the south end of the park and protects the cultural heritage values and landscape – viewed from both land and sea,” she says.

In 2004, the ARC succeeded in purchasing an additional 5.9 hectares of land adjoining the southern and mid-point part of the regional park for $7.7 million and North Shore City Council purchased 38 hectares alongside the Long Bay-Okura marine reserve in the north.

The land adjoining the park has a lengthy history including:

• an Environment Court ruling allowing urbanisation (1996)

• development of a structure plan by North Shore City Council in consultation with the ARC, landowners and interested parties

• petitioning by the community for the public purchase of undeveloped land for public open space

• a joint offer by the ARC and North Shore City Council to purchase land, resulting in purchases by both councils by way of the Public Works Act, finalised in 2004

• an interim ruling by the Environment Court (2008) on the proposed Long Bay Structure Plan resulting in the creation of a Heritage Protection Area to protect land at the southern end of the park from development

The ARC has contributed to other recent joint acquisitions for the benefit of the public. In 2004 it gave $250,000 towards the purchase of Kaikoura Island in the Hauraki Gulf, which was purchased for $10.5 million. In 2008 the ARC contributed $2 million toward the $20 million purchase price for Chelsea Estate Heritage Park, also in North Shore City.

Around one million people visit Long Bay Regional Park each year and in the summer, visitor numbers can hit as high as 15,000 in one day.

Resolutions from the ARC Parks and Heritage Committee meeting of Wednesday 2 December 2009

E.2 Potential Land Acquisition Opportunity

PO-13

Mace Ward, General Manager Parks; Jane Aickin, Group Manager Visitor Services and Assets; Neil Olsen, Senior Recreation Planner; and Natasha Fredericksen: 9 November 2009

AGENDA PAGE 128

RESOLVED

a) That the report be received.

b) That the Parks and Heritage Committee recommend that the Council approve in principle a financial grant contribution of $2,000,000 from the 2009/10 Annual Plan park acquisition budget towards the acquisition of approximately 4.8 hectares of land adjacent to the western edge of the Long Bay Heritage Protection area, otherwise known as Area D.

c) That the formal award of the financial grant for the acquisition of approximately 4.8 hectares of land adjacent to the western edge of the Long Bay Heritage Protection area, otherwise known as Area D, is subject to the approval of the Auckland Transition Authority.

d) That the formal award of any financial grant to contribute to the acquisition of area D is conditional upon a trust being formed by the Okura Great Park Society and raising the remaining balance of the purchase price to secure this land in public ownership and is available until 30 June 2010.

e) That the Chair of the Parks and Heritage Committee and the General Manager Parks meet with North Shore City Council to discuss options for progressing the acquisition of land on the south eastern edge of the Okura River, and that the Long Bay Okura Great Park Society be invited to attend.

f) That the Okura Great Park Society trustees are advised of these resolutions and that the resolutions be restated in public.

ENDS

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